Museum of Modern Art No. 59 West 53 Street, New York, N.Y. 10019 Circle 5-8900 Cable: Modernart FOR RELEASE: Thursday, June 10, I965
SONNY ROLLINS & CO. TO OPEN JAZZ IN THE GARDEN CONCERTS
Sonny Rollins will give the first Jazz in the Garden concert of the season at The
Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, on Thursday, June 17, at 8:30 p.m. The
celebrated tenor saxophone stylist will introduce his new group, Sonny Rollins & Co.
Jazz in the Garden, a series of ten promenade concerts sponsored jointly by the
Museum and Downbeat magazine, will continue June 2k with the Bud Freeman quintet,
featuring Clark Terry; July 1, The Earl Hines Trio & Guests; July 8, the Muddy
Waters Blues Band; July 15, the Jazz Composers Guild Ensemble; July 22, the Pee Wee
Russell Quintet; July 29, the Roy Eldridge Quintet featuring Richard Kamuca; August
% the Jaki Byard Quartet; August 12, the Milt Jackson Quintet featuring Lee Konitz;
and August 19, the Buddy Tate Big Band with Jimmy Rushing.
During the summer, the entire Museum will be open Thursday evenings until 10.
The regular Museum admission, $1.00, admits visitors to galleries and to 8 p.m. film
showings in the Auditorium; there is no charge for Museum members. Admission to jazz
concerts in the garden is an additional 50 cents for all.
As in previous Jazz in the Garden concerts, i960 through I962, tickets will be
placed on sale, in the Museum lobby only, on the Saturday preceding each performance.
A few chairs are available on the garden terraces, but most of the audience stands
or sits on the ground. Cushions may be rented for 25 cents. Dinner and refreshments
will be served in the Penthouse Restaurant. In case of rain, the concert will be
canceled; tickets will be honored at the cancert following. Other Museum activities
continue as announced.
For Jazz in the Garden, Dan Morgenstem, New York editor of Downbeat, will be
Chairman of a Program Committee consisting of David Himmelstein, editor of FM maga*
zlne, Charles Graham, a sound systems specialist, and Herbert Bronstein, Series
Director.
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Thirty-five year old Walter Theodore Rollins, a native New Yorker, is one of
the leading figures of the post-Charlie Parker generation of jazz. He made his
recording debut in 19^8 and soon was working with many of the top names of bebop,
among them Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron, J.J, Johnson and Bud Powell. In 1951 he joined
trumpeter Miles Davis1 group, later to become a member of the famous Max Roach-
Clifford Brown Quintet. Since 1957 he has been fronting his own groups.
In i960 Rollins surprised the jazz world by retiring from public performance,
stating that he desired to study and contemplate without involvement in worldly pursuits. His comeback late in I96I was one of the major jazz events of that year.
"Among the characteristic features of Sonny*t style," says Dan Morgenstern,
"are a keen sense of humor, often bordering on sarcasm, a superb harmonic imagina
tion, and a hard, clear tone. In recent years Rollins has been exploring the most extreme resources of his instrument, producing new and startling sounds. His first after his sabbatical group/was fairly conventional, but Rollins soon disbanded it in favor of a unit
Including two former members of the controversial Ornette Coleman quartet. Rollins1 work with this group indicated that he had been profoundly influenced by the work of
Coleman and other avant-garde jazz practitioners. However, during the past year,
Rollins has apparently incorporated these influences into a less experimental style which has more in common with his earlier work. Throughout his career Rollins has been a man full of surprises. At his museum concert with a new group it will be moat Interesting to see what this remarkable and unpredictable musician has up his sleeve."
Photographs and additional information available from Elizabeth Shaw, Director, Department of Public Information, The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, N. Y. 10019, Circle 5-89OO.